Many countries use pictograms in order to avoid language differences. This is especially true of pictograms used on roads to indicate various driving regulations, such as no passing signs, animal crossings, maximum speeds, etc. Various symbols are present on roads, keyboards, phones, cars, and a myriad of other places. They are meant to overcome language differences; however, in several instances they are difficult to understand and may be local in meaning.
With the increase in worldwide tourism and the emerging global market, it is vital that both personal and business visitors have a good grasp on road regulations in various countries and communities around the world. The present invention will provide a vital step in this direction.
Unfortunately, there is no standardization of symbols from country to country, and the tourist or business visitor is often confused as to the meaning intended to be conveyed. Sometimes a misreading of a road symbol can lead to accidents because of a difficulty in interpreting the road signs. While the present invention can be used as a service to indicate meanings of symbols in a multitude of foreign sign areas and situations, for the sake of clarity, the present invention will be described as it relates to symbols on roads relevant to driving on roads in foreign countries.
Since there are no standard road symbols used worldwide, a service that would instantaneously translate the symbols meaning would be extremely beneficial.
A system for recognizing symbols and converting these symbols into a digital format is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,508,954 B2, but the system described in this patent (Lev) is used primarily for authentication. The invention utilizes an image of a display showing specific information which may be open (that is clear) or encoded. The imaging device captures the image on the display, and a computational facility will interpret the information (including prior decoding of encoded information) to recognize the image. The recognized image will then be used for purposes such as user authentication, access control, expedited processes, security, or location identification.
The present invention differs from LEV in a major difference in that GPS is used to find the correct locality using the symbol and determines its meaning in that locality.
The main thrust of the invention of U.S. Pat. No. 7,508,954 B2 (Lev) is user identification and access. The purpose appears to be to enable secure commerce such as buying over the internet, so the user must be identified from a picture OR a token within the picture must be identifiable; maybe a coupon, a barcode or a badge. Successful identification will allow the transaction to proceed. This is not a general look-up service as in the present invention. The patent to Lev is about analyzing a digital image or video for specific, predetermined symbols or objects. The present invention described herein is the reverse; it deals with general objects and tells what they are. Part of their uniqueness is in the algorithms that do the matching (or rather searching within the image itself). Lev only uses location as part of the authentication process. The present invention must use location to determine the interpretation of the symbol. The Lev patent, the photo taken by the user for authentication represents a proof of the user's location which coupled to the user's phone number create reliable location-identity authentication. Thus, the location is used in Lev only for user authentication.
The location (GPS coordinates) of the present invention is used to determine a meaning of a symbol; for example, the same symbol may have a different meaning in Italy than in Switzerland. Therefore, in the present invention the GPS location of the symbol is critical to the correct search conducted and meaning to be determined. This is completely different than the location use in Lev.